From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Puebla, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Talleres keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Marco Gallardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Guillermo Pfund falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cándido Ramírez and Veracruz agree another 1 years.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hector Edson, and the manager let it.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olimpia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match6 Feb 2027
The drought breaks for Veracruz
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Tijuana were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hector Ramirez commits to Veracruz for another 4 years.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hector Ramirez. 3‑1 against Tijuana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Veracruz asked and Tijuana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hector Ramirez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marco Gallardo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
12 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Hector Edson has given nobody the chance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match30 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Feb 2027
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Guadalajara for Marco Gallardo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market1 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Veracruz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Veracruz close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Diego Football Club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Veracruz heard it as anything else.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
$13.2M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A one-man rearguard from Hector Edson
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $13.2M sale of Roberto Sanchez
He is going to SC Freiburg, the club has $13.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Veracruz asked and DC United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hector Edson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match16 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. St. Louis CITY SC have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Alan Mendoza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market18 Jan 2027
SC Freiburg are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Veracruz will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match16 Jan 2027
Pumas UNAM left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Veracruz are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
14 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Marco Gallardo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Benjamín Colombo ran the middle of the pitch — 7.11
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.11, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match9 Jan 2027
Late, late show earns Veracruz a point
Minute 94, against Tigres, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Veracruz had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo Pfund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Estudiantes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Gaddi Aguirre
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Diego Vega after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Roberto Sanchez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.35 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Alan Mendoza in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Roberto Sanchez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Guillermo Pfund falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Dec 2026
Late, late show earns Veracruz a point
Minute 94, against Santos Laguna, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Manuel Pérez, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Dec 2026
12 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Guillermo Pfund and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑2 to Club America, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Diego Vega after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.98, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Veracruz and Queretaro in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 4‑2, and it was Hector Ramirez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.30 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alan Mendoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Dec 2026
4‑1, and Valentín Ponce took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Veracruz tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Roberto Sanchez takes the afternoon — 9.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto Sanchez provided it, and the 9.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match5 Dec 2026
The run at home goes on for Veracruz
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Thiago Milanese and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑5 by Guadalajara, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alan Mendoza in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Manuel Pérez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Gaddi Aguirre
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Nov 2026
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.71 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Suárez and Veracruz agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Marco Gallardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match23 Nov 2026
Veracruz at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 9, 28 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Nov 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Guillermo Pfund falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Marco Gallardo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
Veracruz rescue it on 92 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Toluca had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match14 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Diego Vega chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Chiapas will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Veracruz were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Roberto Sanchez, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match7 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Veracruz
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Alan Mendoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hector Ramirez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match7 Nov 2026
Veracruz settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Chiapas spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Oct 2026
The cup run ends for Veracruz
0‑1 against Club America, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Manuel Pérez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
Three points for Veracruz, 1‑0 the final word against Morelia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo Pfund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A month that belonged to Hector Edson
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Veracruz who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Hector Edson gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match24 Oct 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Guillermo Pfund falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Marco Gallardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market26 Oct 2026
Román Almanza is 20, and Veracruz have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan José Barreña, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Diego Vega chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Victor Lozano: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Veracruz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo Pfund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Juan José Barreña was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Manuel Pérez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Veracruz had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Veracruz are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Diego Vega after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Alan Mendoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Oct 2026
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match10 Oct 2026
Three points for Veracruz, 1‑0 the final word against Tijuana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Guillermo Pfund falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan José Barreña commits to Veracruz for another 1 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Diego Vega: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guillermo Pfund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Marco Gallardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A defender's afternoon for Ivan Jimenez
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Veracruz
0‑3 against Monterrey, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Guillermo Pfund falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Marco Gallardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Diego Vega left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Veracruz are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alan Mendoza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match19 Sep 2026
Late, late show earns Veracruz a point
Minute 96, against Pumas UNAM, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Manuel Pérez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Diego Vega after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Álvaro Cazula deal
Veracruz ran out of time with San Marcos de Arica. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Veracruz against Tigres
2‑3 to Tigres, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Veracruz asked and Houston Dynamo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Manuel Pérez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gaddi Aguirre, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with San Marcos de Arica is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Veracruz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 5 in, 6 out at Veracruz
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
Dorados come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Veracruz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market7 Sep 2026
Add another name to the list: Tigres have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hector Edson. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The formation has left Manuel Pérez behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Veracruz will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
$2.4M. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Veracruz sell a favourite for $28.9M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Sebastian Martin was one of the reasons people came, and $28.9M does not replace that by itself.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $1.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Atlas drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlas have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Veracruz paid $2.4M
Brayan Garnica was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Santos Laguna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Veracruz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Hector Ramirez obliged against Chiapas. 5‑5 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Veracruz.
Match22 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Veracruz
A 0‑3 beating by Club America was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match19 Aug 2026
Veracruz throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Chiapas the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Veracruz will enjoy reviewing.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Veracruz and Puebla have settled on $2.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hector Edson decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Guillermo Montes, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market24 Aug 2026
Gerardo Romo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Veracruz can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Oribe Edson has gone, the accounts have $1.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Veracruz have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market17 Aug 2026
Business is business: Oribe Edson goes
Pachuca paid $1.5M and Veracruz took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Match15 Aug 2026
Veracruz cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Puebla have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
$3.4M from Pumas UNAM for Alexis Rodriguez. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Match8 Aug 2026
3‑0, and Valentín Ponce took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Veracruz tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market10 Aug 2026
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Morelia for Valentín Ponce was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Veracruz sell a favourite for $3.4M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Alexis Rodriguez was one of the reasons people came, and $3.4M does not replace that by itself.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sebastian Martin and Veracruz agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Marco Gallardo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Veracruz will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Both of them Jesus Vega's — 9.17
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Fulham have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hector Edson. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Veracruz heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Sebastian Martin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Colombo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Guadalajara, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match1 Aug 2026
Veracruz settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Guadalajara spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Rafael Guerrero is in the works
Veracruz have made the call to Tigres. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Diego Vega: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.